BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 1
By Nargiz Sadikhova - Trend:
Climate change, resulting from spiraling global greenhouse gas emissions, is a serious cause for concern for Azerbaijan, Stephan Sicars, Managing Director at UNIDO Directorate of Managing Director of Environment and Energy, told Trend.
Sicars noted that Azerbaijan’s CO2 and energy productivity, though highest among countries in the region, remains below European Union levels, indicating room for further improvement in energy efficiency and production processes. Reducing the environmental footprint of the heavy industries which dominate Azerbaijan’s economy will help to reduce significant pressures on the environment.
"Currently, welfare costs associated with air pollution by fine particles represent about 5 percent of GDP equivalent in Azerbaijan, compared to 3.8 percent on average in the European Union. The mean population exposure to fine particles (PM2.5) is two times higher than the level recommended in World Health Organization guidelines," Sicars said.
Climate change, resulting from spiraling global greenhouse gas emissions, is a serious cause for concern, not least the impact of higher temperatures on evaporation and the subsequent lower level of the Caspian Sea - Azerbaijan has an 850-kilometer coastline, Sicars added.
The government’s strategic economic policy document, Azerbaijan 2020: Look to the future, integrates environmental concerns, recognizes ecological problems from oil extraction among the major challenges, and sets a target "...to achieve sustainable socio-economic development from an ecological point of view". And, earlier this year, the authorities approved Azerbaijan 2030: National Priorities on Socio-Economic Development, in which one of the five priorities for the next decade is "a clean environment and a country of green growth."
The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) is part of the European Union-funded "EU4Environment" Action, launched in 2019, supporting the efforts of Azerbaijan, as well as five other EU Eastern partner countries, to preserve natural capital and increase people’s environmental well-being. UNIDO’s focus is on mainstreaming resource efficiency and circular economy practices in the industrial sector in Azerbaijan, aiming to demonstrate and unlock further opportunities for greener growth.
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